An alternative to redoing the Gothic Cottage

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I have been asked what alternatives there might be to redoing the interior of the Gothic Cottage to make it more efficient for modern office use. Here's one: What about getting an estimate for the proposed modernization of the cottage, adding 10 to 20 percent for the contingencies that always arise, then consider what it would cost to buy and equip one of the suitable houses on the market in the village at any given moment (I am thinking of one at the edge of the village that would have ample ground for parking). Such a house would likely be more amenable to the necessary office use from the beginning, easier to renovate and the costs might be close enough so the preservation of the Gothic Cottage's interior, and thus the whole structure as a viable and valuable part of Cazenovia's patrimony, would be economically justifiable.

The long-term effects, including the economic ones, of such decisions are important; very often, cheapest is not necessarily best. I understand how much everyone likes going to the Gothic Cottage. Why? Because it is an intact and welcoming period structure of great quality. Whether people are interested in architecture or not, they understand intuitively that they are in a welcoming, comfortable and interesting space.

The irony of the proposed interior renovation is that it would, in effect, kill the thing we love. This of course raises the issue of what would then be done with the Cottage, and that is a suitable subject for public debate. I am sure appropriate ideas would emerge.